Do you want to experience intense second-hand anxiety for a character with an extensive criminal record but rock-solid morals?
Then Shadows of Old Town is calling your name from ominous purple portals to a different world where monsters can pull you in to your end. Yup. That exists.
I know the fantasy genre with thieves as their main character are everywhere, but they are too tantalizing for me to resist. This book had me at "dealing with trauma through snark and overconfidence."
This story is very much so a political one, where the main character gets pulled, more like dragged ragged and bloody, into an intricate scheme where neither friend nor enemy are safe from being the next target.
I've always been obsessed with characters whose greatest strength is also their biggest weakness. Just *chefs kiss*. Gray, the main character, is the king of this making so many mistakes but for all the right reasons.
The world itself is interesting and leaves a lot to be explored but not enough that the reader can become lost. Especially when it comes to the magic side of it.
And lastly, because this is important, T. Olsen is an independent author and all of this goes to show that great stories don't only come out of big publishers. Because that's a moldy load of bologna.
I greatly look forward to book two in this series. At least I'm pretty sure there is a second book. . . . There better be a second book. Because I have questions and worries and I really just need to read it.
UPDATE: There is a second book!
Cheers,
-themesswrites